The freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880 (Limnomedusa: Olindiidae) in Germany, with a brief note on its nomenclature

Abstract

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Craspedacusta sowerbii, Lankester 1880 – population dispersal analysis using COI and ITS sequences

“…The rapidly incoming reports after the first description indicate that the jellyfish may have been already present for quite some time, or at least since exotic ornamental aquatic plants, its potential source of transportation, were used in aquaria and parks. Still, new occurrences of the jellyfish are discovered within in Germany (Fritz et al 2007) and worldwide (Arbaèiauskas & Lesutienë 2005, Pérez-Bote et al 2006, Saadalla 2006. It is difficult to determine whether these are new introductions, local dispersal or just new observations.…”

“…Within recent years large numbers of new findings have been collected. Overall, C. sowerbii occurs in nearly all regions of Germany and new locations can be added on a regular basis (Fritz et al 2007). …”

A new record of Craspedacusta sowerbii, Lankester 1880 (Cnidaria, Limnomedusae) in Northern Italy

“…Within the genus Craspedacusta, 11 species were originally described (Jankowski 2001), native of the Yangtze River area in China (Kramp 1961), which were synonymised into the two species Craspedacusta sowerbii and Craspedacusta sinensis, following morphological (Jankowski 2001) and molecular phylogenetic analysis (Fritz et al 2009;Zhang et al 2009). Among the two species, only C. sowerbii has been recognized as a cosmopolitan invader (Rayner 1988;Dumont 1994), probably due to specific adaptations favouring dispersal such as the capacity to develop a durable, chitin covered, resting body (Acker & Muscat 1976;Bouillon & Boero 2000), several forms of vegetative reproduction (Reisinger 1957), and longterm survival without sexual reproduction (Fritz et al 2007).…”

First record of Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880 (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) in a natural freshwater lagoon of Uruguay, with notes on polyp stage in captivity

“…They have also been observed in artificial environments, e.g. gravel and clay pits, garden ponds, reservoirs, aquaria and fountains (Fritz et al, 2007). The species C. sowerbii was described by Lankester (1880) from specimens collected in water-lily tanks at Regents Park of London in 1880 and later a polyp discovered in the same tank was correctly assumed to be a form of C. sowerbyi (Payne, 1924).…”

“…The possession of several asexual reproductive and resting forms, such as a budding polyp, mobile frustules or podocysts allows it dispersion via co-transportation of resting stages with plants, fish and humans (Dumont, 1994), which in turn results in log-term survival without sexual reproduction (Fritz et al, 2007).…”